The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released H-1B cap numbers as of 6/17/2011, receiving 16,300 toward the 65,000 cap-subject H-1B petitions and 10,800 towards the 20,000 H-1B Master's category.

Thus, H-1B cap numbers remain available, and there is still time to submit your FY2012 H-1B visa application for foreign national applicants beginning employment on October 1, 2011 or later.  Contact VISANOW to see if this is an option for you/your foreign national.

VISANOW will be blogging regular updates on the H-1B cap in addition to notifying our social media followers of real-time information through Facebook and Twitter.

Photo attribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8042373@N03/

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The July 2011 Visa Bulletin shows progress and provides hope for families and individuals in America and throughout the world. On the employment-based side, the EB-1 category remains current for all countries. In the EB-2 category, Mexico, the Philippines, and all other countries remain current. Major progress is seen for EB-2 China and EB-2 India as both moved forward by almost five months to March 8, 2007. We are likely seeing a “carryover effect” as a decrease in demand for EB-1 visa numbers is allowing unused numbers to become available in the EB-2 category. In the EB-3 category, the rest of the world and the Philippines moved forward by three weeks to October 8, 2005, China moved forward by more than six weeks to July 1, 2004, India moved forward by one week to May 1, 2002, and Mexico moved forward by more than six months to July 1, 2005. In the other workers category, the priority date for all other countries, Mexico, and the Philippines moved forward by more than one year to November 22, 2004, it remained unchanged for China, and moved forward by one week for India to May 1, 2002. ...

VISANOW is headed to the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) Annual Conference and Exhibition in Las Vegas June 26-29. If you are attending the conference, stop by our booth (#3314 in the Global section of the exhibition near the entrance to the General Sessions) to learn more about streamlining your immigration process. Every booth visitor will receive a FREE gift and have the chance to enter a raffle to win $1,000 in travel vouchers on American Airlines!

Key speakers at the conference include founder and president of Virgin Group Sir Richard Branson, CEO of Zappos.com Tony Hsieh, Editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group Arianna Huffington and Emmy-award-winning actor Michael J. Fox. Attendees also have the opportunity to attend seminars on personal leadership and development, international HR, and strategic management.
 

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-California) recently introduced the IDEA Act (Immigration Driving Entrepreneurship in America). The act focuses on increasing STEM visas, which are for students studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics in the U.S., and making it easier for students to get visas. The bill, only backed by Democrats, also promises L and H-1B visas reformation to end abuse of the easier-to-get visas. Further, it has a goal to create new types of green cards for entrepreneurial immigrants who have $500,000 in American investments or immigrants who start their own companies that employ at least 10 Americans.

Rep. Lofgren wants to eliminate student fears of being deported while studying. “My bill would allow some of the world's sharpest minds to stay in the U.S. and help us grow our economy,” Lofgren said. Lofgren has a point—we have been educating brilliant foreign minds at public universities in the U.S. and then are essentially...

Lamar Smith (R-Texas) presented the mandatory E-Verify bill to the U.S. House Judiciary Immigration subcommittee this week. Smith wants to make the use of E-Verify, an employment verification system operated by both the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA), mandatory for all employers when hiring new employees.E-Verify remains very controversial. Although Smith contends that the program will be beneficial to the country, it can also hurt our country in various ways by adding to the country’s high deficit, causing thousands to lose their jobs, and pushing workers to work in the black market.

If all favors Smith, the bill will be forwarded to Congress, and if passed, it would advance to the President’s desk. If the use of E-Verify becomes a federal requirement, it will be phased...

Yesterday, the Obama administration notified over 1,000 more U.S. companies throughout all 50 states that the government intends to check hiring records for illegal workers soon. These “silent raids” can lead to mass employee loss, legal expenses and decreased productivity. Since October 1, 2,338 companies have been audited by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — this surpasses the previous year’s record of 2,196. Industries usually affected by the audits include food production, information technology, financial services and construction. Information on when the raid will take place and which companies will be targeted has not been released.

I-9 employer raids are not new, but employers have been claiming that they are not able to monitor their work forces, and fear asking employees for additional documentation due to discrimination lawsuits. However, I-9 raids are highly likely to continue in lieu...

Over the past few years, Australia has experienced a decline in temporary migration levels—the amount of migrants in 2010-2011 is around half of what it was in 2008-2009. Despite the drastic decline, the number of 457 visa applications, which allows skilled overseas workers to work in Australia for up to four years, has surpassed those of previous years. More and more skilled laborers have applied for the 457 visa due to Australia’s improved economic environment and increasing demand for overseas workers to fill skills vacancies, according to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).  An increase in applications and government commitment to streamline the process will help to maintain the country’s access to skilled workers when local skilled labor is in short supply.  

 

So far in 2011, there have been at least 42,872 applications for the 457 visa—this is 4,000 more applications than last year. The government has also tried to speed up the processing of the documents - processing times are about 30 per cent lower than five years ago. On average, it takes 22 days to process a 457 visa, and with hopes of further reducing this time by half, the Australian government plans to allocate funding for a 457 visa processing center in Brisbane....

In our continued effort to deliver the industry’s most service-oriented user experience, VISANOW has introduced significant improvements to our dynamic immigration services application.  While maintaining the at-your-fingertips functionality that our clients know and love, the innovation found within these upgrades creates an even more intuitive environment. Highlights of these enhancements include:  

 

Intuitive Navigation – We have reduced the number of clicks required to find information, ultimately saving clients time, and introduced a comprehensive “My Settings” feature.  Also, pages will now dynamically refresh when different company divisions are selected.   Case Details – More robust search capabilities have been added along with a single navigation to find active and completed cases.  Specific immigration case details appear logically when utilizing the Question & Answer (Q&A) and Alerts sections....

Despite May’s reluctance to shine through in terms of weather, it certainly has provided significant progression for June’s immigration queues. June’s Visa Bulletin displays promising developments in priority dates for family-based and employment-based I-140’s for all categories. Encouragingly, June’s Visa Bulletin for Employment Based I-140’s depicts similar progressions with the EB-1 category remaining current. EB-2’s in China and India will both inch forward, bringing both of their priority dates to 10/15/2006. The EB-3 “other workers” category seems more lethargic, with only Mexico showing any real momentum, skyrocketing seven months ahead to 12/22/2004. India only hastens forward seven days to 04/22/2002 while China remains the same. The Philippines and all other countries experienced a lag, both moving back seven days to 09/15/2005. For the Other Worker category, China stands still at 04/22/2003 while India...

Undocumented students, who were brought to the U.S. as young children quickly realize their options for the future are very limited upon high school graduation (about 65,000 every year). Under the current immigration law, these students have no legal way to pursue a college education or a career in the military. Earlier this month, President Obama once again reaffirmed his intention to pursue comprehensive immigration reform (CIR), which includes the Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act to provide a path for these undocumented students earn legal status.    The DREAM Act, first introduced in 2009, is still riddled with misconceptions such as the bill granting amnesty or will be a financial burden. Once dispelled, these two myths reveal that the intention of the DREAM Act is not to grant amnesty to millions of undocumented...